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Pencil Drawing - By Alfred France Internet Archive Book Images |
If painting were to be designated as a medium of communication through the
arts, pencil drawing is the most essential and basic medium. An inspiring
artist in their earlier career can use pencil drawing to his or her maximum
advantage. So, if you have any drawing in mind, then take a pencil, grab a pack
of plain paper, and make yourself comfortable near a third-floor
window.
This article, it is described how a pencil performs in drawing a human
figure. How the creative pencil shading with tonal values creates a sense
of volume and contrast of light.
It is because economically this medium, pencil drawing, is the cheapest
compared to art materials, like watercolour or oil colours. You just need a set
of HB and B type lead pencils of different grades, a dozen white papers, one
pencil sharpener, one or two good erasers, and a full stop. No more materials
needed.
The master portrait painter Ingres had said once that: Drawing includes
three and a half quarters of the content of the painting. The drawing contains
everything, except the hue. That is how the drawing or the pencil drawing is
valued by the masters.
What is Pencil Shading: In pencil drawing, shading is an aspect that exploits an artist’s best
skills. The creative shading of a pencil can create a picture as beautiful as
in any other medium like watercolour and oil colour. Shading in pencil
drawing is just like putting different tonal values of colours. By selecting a
proper colour and applying that colour in different tonal values, a painter
animates his or her mental images on paper and canvases.
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See page for author, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Edward Law - Pencil Drawing -by H.M. Raeburn 1909 |
The skilful use of pencil shading can depict the contrast of light, by
light and dark shading. The shading with the best use of tonal values of
graphite pencil can create a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional
objects such as still life and the human body.
A pencil drawing with creative shading and artistic line drawing can become
a strong base for a masterpiece painting in oil colours when it is enlivened on
canvas.
The Art of Pencil: The line drawing, the placement of the object, the use of pressure while
drawing: these will be the crucial aspects, which would be getting defined
through the process. Another important thing is to draw from live objects,
whenever it is possible. It helps every artist in the long run.
Pencil drawing is no longer a preparatory drawing for the final
landscape painting. It is a final artwork in itself. Austrian artist Pernhart
Markus had done this drawing. The lines of the castle/monastery are
witness to the artistic use of the tip of a pencil.
What is Pencil Shading: The Art of Shading, Light and Dark
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Marko Pernhart Facsimile of Markus Pernhart´s pencil drawing. Castle/Monastery Wernberg, situated in the community Wernberg, District Villach-Land, Carinthia, Austria |
While drawing, the lines are drawn like the notes played by a musician. But
the shading is a different material. In simple words, shading is the use
of pencil in such a way that defines the different level of darkness. It is the
use of a pencil creating a sense of volume in the drawing. The graded shading
would clearly depict the exact falling of light.
Notes of music might be unpleasant, if not played with care; and it fails
to impress. Such is the case with line drawing in the art of
painting. While drawing light or dark lines by the tip of a pencil the
artist varies the weight of the line. It is done by lifting the pencil or
pressing it a little bit harder. Such shading would give the illusion of depth
in the drawing. The varying pressure of the pencil tip would create an effect
of shine and reflection.
Artwork: The above pencil drawing is one of the marvellous drawings I have seen. It
is not just a preparatory drawing for a final landscape painting. It is a final
artwork in itself. Austrian artist Pernhart Markus has done this drawing. The
lines of the castle/monastery are the witness of the artist’s fluent use of the
tip of a pencil.
The Artist: The work of artists is not as easy as one would think it to be. Nor
it is easy to direct the viewer's eyes. This is the artistic job to create
energy in the pencil drawing just by shaping the lines. It requires
practised knowledge of the basics of shapes and different shades of a lead
pencil. However, the hard work put in and dedication shown by the artist
plays a great role in making the artist a perfect one.
The pencil drawing has been the primary work for any famous painting or
works done by the old masters. You can display your pencil work, too, in art
galleries and online art shows. All the figure drawing or most of the framed
and famous paintings have taken birth in the cradle of one or another type of
drawing. The colour pencils have also emerged as a separate medium of painting,
like pastel colour painting and charcoal drawing.
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Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan, New York City |
What is Line
Drawing: The ‘Lining’, 'Line Drawing' or
‘Line Art’ is the art by which images are recreated with the use of distinct
lines and curves. These lines usually have no element of shades of different
grades. Without showing any texture in a drawing, the lining gives importance
to the forms of objects. The outlines drawn create a shape on the paper or
canvas.
When a creative
part is added in the lining, it would make the whole drawing looking more
energetic. By adding visual information with the help of lines would render the
drawing more realistic. Before the invention of photography, the printing
of images was done by the lining only. In addition to the pencil drawing, the
lining is used in drawing crotons and caricatures.
Pencil
drawing is no longer a preparatory drawing for the final landscape
painting. It is a final artwork in itself. Austrian artist Pernhart Markus had
done this drawing. The lines of castle/monastery are witness of the
artist’s fluent use of the tip of a pencil.
Line drawing, placement of objects, the use of pressure while daring: these
will be the aspects, which would be getting defined through the process. Having these articles in hand, you would be creating
pleasant drawings on paper. Let us see the secrets of pencil drawing.
Advantages of Pencil: The most important advantage of pencil drawing is
its versatility. The tiny tip of a pencil is so resourceful that you feel
like a wealthy person while using a pencil, coloured pencil or black, the uses
are unlimited.
One of the
advantages of the pencil reside in its use of inline drawing and
shading. When an artist is able to create a fine balance in line and
shading, the pencil drawing piece of art turns out as a masterpiece. Line
drawing is more than putting the marking on paper by drawing lines and curves
helping to figure out the shapes.
The meaning of the
line drawing extends to and includes the skilful use of space by the artists.
When an artist is looking at a blank paper or a canvas, he or she divides the
space into segments: foreground, background, land area, sky or sea.
CREATIVE PENCIL
DRAWING: There are no such
persons as beginners in art. You have a passion for art and you are here.
However, some techniques are useful to drag out the artist breathing in you. So
before you take a pencil in hand, try to capture the pattern of the object or
the face to be drawn. Keep the rough image of an object in your mind.
Then start giving
shape that mental image of yours. Let that image being animated on the paper;
let it get enliven through the tip of your pencil. The work of artists is not as easy as one would think it
to be. Nor it is easy to direct viewers eyes. This is an artistic job to create
energy in pencil drawing by drawing the lines.
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